VoIPWatch

Panasonic's Smartphone App is Very Private

I came across a note letting me know about a new mobile app from Panisonic that ties into their business phone system. When I read the note, it was full of just enough information to encourage me to look through the web site about the smartphone app.

What I found was more than interesting and a more than smart approach to business communication. What stood out most of all was the ability to keep the calls only between team members, and the ability to reject non-Panasonic originating calls from even reaching the customer. This helps kill off spoofed calls, outside calls and unwanted calls. For internal teams who need to stay in touch, in many ways, this is how I've used Skype for years with my agency team members.  The difference here is this is a business communication's system, and a feature not often shared or even available from other VoIP providers.

To me the feature set combines privacy seeking businesses who have turned to apps like Telegram or Signal, but provides the business the right level of controls and capabilities. Panasonic has been steadily building their own phone platform, while previously having worked with Broadsoft. This solution appears to work with both, and clearly needs more exploration.

 

Kill The Deskphone

The Wall Street Journal has a great story about the decline or if you believer, the continuation of the use of the deskphone. As someone who has not had a home or office phone for so many years the story is mostly old hat.

Given how voice over IP use and acceptance has steadily grown, there's less and less need for the old-school deskphone, especially in what is rapidly becoming a mobile first society. Apps, and cloud services, simply work better in software based endpoints like a smartphone or tablet vs. an endpoint which now have so many buttons and hard to program screens that they become almost useless.

As the story points out, without saying it directly, the digital generation that has grown up with mobile phones. That group are not really comfortable with the old desk phone. Despite attempts to market Android OS based , or bases and speakers for iPads and iPhones, the idea of the desk phone is really a thing of the past.

Part of the rationale is functionality. Pioneers in softphone Counterpath pretty much defined the softphone space, allowing for advanced services being as simply as sliding a button. Skype came along and got millions of people comfortable with using their computer to make and receive calls. Then the iPhone arrived, and with the debut of the app store, so much changed in how we use and consume telephony services. The app from Truphone in 2008 was very forward in approach, while Vonage, 8x8 and others were initially nothing more than just a substitution for the deskphone, so while they were starts, none of them were what we see today. In the ten years that the App store has been around, we've seen so many advance between API's and cloud microservices, the debut of Apple's Callkit and similar efforts on Android, that mobile devices have become the endpoint of choice because they simply do more.

Take the long stalled GoogleVoice. This year's most recent updates adding long wanted VoIP calling, plus the ability to now take calls via the Web browser have made the service an easy way to totally eliminate deskphones. You get a number, and it can terminate anywhere. If you still want the number to ring the old fashioned landline, it can. In many ways GoogleVoice has caught up with 8x8, Vonage, RingCentral, Dialpad, Telzio  and all the rest.  Older, more legacy focused plays like Mitel are quickly moving to catch up to the cloud based solution providers with their own version of cloud, which is one of the main reasons they acquired Shortel.

That said, there remains a healthy market for deskphones largely for the desk only worker, but for the Anywhere Worker who moves around, the deskphone may be like the Model T. A think of the past.

Why Google Fi May Be Best for Your New iPhone

I have Google Fi on a Pixel and my bill this month will be roughly $25.00. That's for unlimited voice and text, and a PAYG data plan. Since the Fi spends so much time on WiFi, and so little on 4G/LTE, the data that is being consumed is almost nothing so I pay almost nothing. Subtract $20.00 for helping a friend sign up for Fi, and my bill will be roughly $5.00 this month.

Looking at the new iPhones, I realize I'll be able to use AT&T or T-Mobile (or both) as my eSIM provider in the USA, but I'll also be able to buy their lowest voice and data plan, as I'll be able to use the Fi's data only SIM in the other slot. Basically with an eSIM I'll have the best option around, as I can flip flop between AT&T and T-Mobile based on coverage areas, and still have the Fi Sim connected to T-Mobile or Sprint (until they merge). When I go internationally, I'll activate a PAYG Truphone plan for voice and data, and use that.

Of course I could also just put my Fi phone and data SIM into the SIM card slot and then use any of the UK or EU mobile operators as the PAYG eSIM provider when I'm in that part of the world, and Truphone or Fi everywhere else

There's a really big play here for Google and Truphone in the global traveller market, as it really takes off after the iPhone turns on the eSIM for everyone. Already the dual SIM Pixel2 provides this type of benefit, but let's face it, with what Apple is doing, it will bring the idea of dual SIM, dual carrier, mainstream in the USA, as it has been a big deal in Asia for a while.

For people who spend most of their time connected to the cloud, or on conference calls without the need to dial a number, the dual SIM plan will be golden. As a VoIP user, I already make calls for the most part over IP via LTE or WiFi. With apps using the data plan and regular calls going over the mobile operator SIM in the Voice/DataFi SIM scenario, I can forward the calls to my mobile operator to deal with calls when I'm in lower speed, poorer coverage areas. But when I'm in full coverage or WiFi, the Google Fi line becomes primary.

Even more, I can use services like Dialpad, Telzio or other cloud telephony providers to be my published line and take advantage of their wider array native features over WiFi and LTE. While FI may not support WiFi calling given how I use a VoIP provider more than my cellphone provider number to make calls, it's no big deal.

With CPaaS services from SignalWIRE, Twilio, Plivo and Nexmo, I can create various messaging and voice functions tied to applications or workflows. With location based features it will be likely that I'll be able to toggle between the two SIM service providers and the trigger services on and off, further taking advantage of the WiFi or LTE/4G networks.

At the end of the day, the dual SIM approach will likely provide a means to save money, by eliminating the cost of a second phone, and providing power users to really be able to choose which network is best for them, where they are and for what they do versus the current one size fits all approach being sold by the mobile operators.

The dual SIM really does offer, Power To The People.....right now.

 

Skype Over Echo is a Big Deal

Skype is coming to the Amazon Echo soon. This is a big win for Amazon, and also at the same time could have massive ramifications to the entire voice and video calling industry. And it may also be the biggest boost to Skype resuming being a force in calling. 

Here's why

• Echo devices are becoming almost ubiquitous. They are also becoming dirt cheap. As low as $50.00 for the Echo dot. With the new in car Echo coming to mobile (2020) the ability to reach anyone, anywhere, will be easier.
• Imagine if Amazon and T-Mobile put SIM cards inside Echos for data. Skype can call over the network. BOOM.
• By connecting to Echos Skype now has millions of endpoints world wide.....That's a big number......
• Video-Amazon has made voice control of a video call already possible between Amazon Show devices. But Show to Show is a limited market. Add in Skype and connectivity to mobile devices, Macs and PCs, and now Skype is the switchboard.
• Apple hasn't done this with FaceTime yet. Google hasn't done this with Hangouts.
• A Skype In or Skype Out call is like a phone call. Add voice control and it's no different than using your iPhone with Siri.
• You know my name, you don't have to look up my number.-Just like you can ask Alexa to play a song over Spotify, Pandora, or Amazon Music, you'll be able to do the same thing with your Echo. So today, while you can Connect and call Echo to Echo, with Skype that audience just got really huge.
• Even though Google Home can call over Google Voice, it doesn't receive phone calls (yet). Skype on the Echo is an full service endpoint.
• This could eliminate the need for a voice plan as all you'll need in the car for calls

Calling on the Echo though isn't new. In it's infancy Telzio did the first integration ever as a VoIP player, followed by OnSip. Dialpad also has done one too. These though are edge cases and really proof of concept. Skype still has 300 million users worldwide. But it's the Skype In and Out capability that changes the game though. WhatsApp has 1.5 billion connected users but you can't call someone from WhatsApp that not a WhatsApp user. Nor can Facebook Messenger call out. 

Given the deskphone is going the way of the dinosaur, the Echo is the ideal replacement, and since Skype is like a switchboard, Microsoft's move to cozy up with Alexa, is a big, big move.

 

Why the WWE is A Telescope, Not a Microscope

I grew up watching WWWF wrestling when Vince McMahon was the broadcaster. Actually, even before that. I would stay up late to watch Florida Championship Wrestling with Gordon Solie. The same with Georgia Championship Wrestling, even the AWA when Thunderlips pre-dated the creation of Hulk Hogan. In the 80's was at the Spectrum in the media conference for the first promotional tour for Wrestlemania and in the late 70's I interviewed Bruno Sammartino for the Philadelphia Journal (well promoter Phil Zacko did most of the talking). I'm also a music junkie and what is going on with the WWE and music plus their talent roster is all part of a bigger play. 

 

The idea of a campaign is typical to marketing. It starts with a hint. A tease. It grows. And grows. What the WWE and Rousey's managers are doing, are building more than just one person.  Wrestling has always been a soap opera. Stories within stories. Themes within themes. As a student of advertising I love a great campaign and seeing all the nuances that the public takes for granted. This is one of them.

 

The WWE has done a masterful job at reviving the song "Bad Reputation" by Joan Jett. They are doing it with "Rowdy" Rhonda Rousey, a former MMA champ, but also with the whole women's movement surrounding the Divas, what they did in the UAE last summer and with their upcoming all women's pay per view. That means some music supervisor came up with a few songs that could be the core of the campaign. Hats off to that person. Then a creative director and team built upon it. Mastery on so many levels.

 

 

 

This is a campaign around a campaign, carefully crafted to broaden their audience at a time where the "Me Too" movement is alive and growing. While I have no doubt that at some point the same thing went on in the WWE, that's ages ago and from a different era. As someone who grew up in sports and entertainment, that was part of the game off the playing field. It wasn't right then, it was just how it was.

 

 

But today, with youthful stars like Rousey, Charlotte Flair and others who are now competing on par with the likes of the top male wrestlers, the WWE, their close confidants in the world of Hollywood agentry are shaping things the way the big 4 networks have not even come close to. The same can be said about the NHL, NFL and MLB, while the NBA at least has the WNBA. You don't see the NHL glorifying women's hockey, yet it's an Olympic sport. The NCAA has the women's hockey championships. So while we all know wrestling is reality TV at it's finest, and live reality in the arenas, it has surpassed the rest of the groups at moving in the direction of giving women their place, "bad reputation" or not.

 

 

 

 

 

Why There Are No Guest Posts on VoIPWatch

In the history of VoIPWatch, there has been only one guest post, and that was by Michael Robertson during his days with MP3.com and Gizmo. But from the start, I never would permit guest posts, and it was for one reason. This is MY BLOG and it exists to share MY THOUGHTS and VIEWS on things, starting with VoIP, Mobile and Collaboration.

Yesterday, longtime blogging buddy, Om Malik drew attention to what Buzzfeed unearthed, but what most of us in the world of blogging and PR have known for years. That most of the guest post in what were once leading media outlets were really just paid posts to benefit a client. 

How did guest posts come about? Before that term was coined, there was the concept of the "contributed article." The contributed article was often presented by the PR agency to a media outlet as a thought leadership piece, that gave the publication, or web site, content for free. It had to meet standards and often it was considered a plum to score one for a client. Of course, like all good ideas that had merit, the publications saw "contributed articles" as a way to reduce cost on paying freelance writers or having a big staff and it became their route to survival by selling ads around content that cost them nothing. Voila, the guest post model came to life and almost anyone with a keyboard and an email account could send in an article to be published.  And, since the search engines can't discern the difference between real journalism and a contributed article, a piece written by a contributor would be discovered along side an article by a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter. That and the decision to not clearly label the content as being contributed also led to this situation overall

So, the next time you read something, ask yourself if the "reporter" is indeed a "reporter" or a "contributor." 

Oh, and there's nothing wrong in contributing content. Just don't try to be perceived as a "reporter" when all you are is a "contributor." Give the public the ability to decide if what you write has value, because some "contributed articles" actually do provide the type of information that reporters can never cover, it all just needs to be properly positioned.

That's why, to get covered here, it means I have to want to write about it...so, please, stop asking if I accept guest posts. I don't. 

Mobile Service on The Metro Impressively Fast

I've been a long time visitor to Paris for many years and remember my first experience on the #14 line, also known as the Meteor and how I was able to receive email on my Nokia 9000 Communicator. It was back in the 00's and the iPhone was not even in existence. Back then email and some web browsing at really slow speeds were the norm, but we were connected at least.

Today, I rode the #1 Metro and as I looked around there were people talking, texting and of course using many apps on their smartphones. I had forgotten that the Metro had improved its mobile connectivity across all of the lines that make getting around Paris such a snap.

Unlike London and New York City, where mobile phone service is relegated to just the stations, on the Metro you have full coverage. A fast speed check showed speeds at about 15 megs as the subway car moved towards Palais Royale from the Champs Elysee.

To say my experience was great is an understatement. Just watching so many people connected and getting things done while on the go underground was more than great. It made me realize that back home in the USA the operators talk about 5G but ignore opportunities in cities like Philadelphia and Washington DC. Yes BART in the Bay Area has connectivity, but it's nothing like what I just experienced here in Paris.

My Newsletter The Comunicano

For the past few years I've been putting out a newsletter, The Comunicano. First I used Flash Issue, a very well thought out platform. But as we have all seen with technology, someone always comes along and builds something better. And Revue is that better platform. It's cheaper, easier and faster for me to produce what has become an almost daily ritual for me to share news that I've found interesting.

But there's something more about the newsletter. It's the open rate and click through rates.  Even on Thanksgiving the click through rate was over 30 percent, and the same on Black Friday. 

Those types of readership levels are really something to be thankful for. If you want to subscribe, click here.

 

 

Collaborating Better

Long time peer and friend in the collaboration sector, David Coleman, best known for his Collaborative Strategies consultancy, has launched a new website, CollaboratingBetter.com.

David is filling a few gaps in the collaboration sector with both news and insight, but it'z his testing platform that has me excited. With it he will help buyers understand which service is better and why, as well as assist companies in validating their claims.

Two big hits are the real time Collaboration Tools database is a dynamite resource and not found elsewhere all in one place. Think of it as Product Hunt for Collaboration services. So is the Collaborative Calendaring-Scheduling Tools database.

As with any new website, it's clearly a work in progress, but in a sector that is so much a part of everyday business these days, but only thinly covered with any depth on a regular basis, David's new site, and his own personal perspective, is one to keep on your daily reading list.

The COMUNICANO for Thursday February 23 2017

FEBRUARY 23 - ISSUE #29     Getting Quoted…and getting quoted regularly are two different things. So far this year I’ve been quoted three times. Last year over 40. Like the number of exits Comunicano has been involved in, now 42, this isn’t luck, chance or accidental. It’s all about having insight, perspective and opinion on subjects, and having the ability to articulate the answer so it’s reporter educational and friendly.  So the first story about the fastest way through some airports, CLEAR, has my quote, but the background provided to the reporter is there too…that’s how you GET QUOTED…There’s also news about Amazon getting in some hot water, Facebook trying to play nice, faster mobile in the USA, Twitter getting more “personal”, Lyft adding more cities and more news you need to know, so now onto the news in today’s COMUNICANO. Travel Watch Now you can go through MSP airport security with a fingerprint or iris scan WWW.TWINCITIES.COM – Share New biometric technology at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport lets fliers go through security with a fingerprint or iris scan. Norwegian Air steps up transatlantic pressure with $65 fares| Reuters WWW.REUTERS.COM – Share Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA on Thursday announced plans to offer transatlantic flights on 10 new routes between the United States and Europe starting at $65, ramping up pressure on U.S. and European rivals. Media Watch Facebook Is Trying To Smooth Over Relationships With The Media WWW.BUZZFEED.COM – Share Facebook’s new head of news partnerships, Campbell Brown, is hosting off-the-record events at her Manhattan home with big-name media people… Amazon Watch What 'Chime' is it? Amazon sued over name of its new online conferencing technology WWW.GEEKWIRE.COM – Share A New York-based tech company has filed a federal trademark suit against Amazon Web Services over the name of the cloud giant's newly launched Chime online Amazon resists US demands to hand over Echo audio in murder case WWW.ZDNET.COM – Share Prosecutors want the audio recordings for evidence, but are they protected by free speech laws? Ridesharing Watch Google’s Waze Plans Expansion of Ride-Sharing Service WWW.WSJ.COM – Share Google is planning to dramatically expand a carpool service on its popular navigation app Waze, setting the tech giant on a collision course with the ride-sharing industry. Lyft launches in 54 new cities, while Uber does damage control MONEY.CNN.COM – Share Lyft has launched 94 new cities total since the beginning of the year, on the heels of trouble at Uber. Wireless Watch T-Mobile Continues to Boost Capacity for Customers with LTE-U Launching in Spring 2017 NEWSROOM.T-MOBILE.COM – Share   GE, Intel, AT&T team up to put cameras, mics in San Diego WWW.REUTERS.COM – Share General Electric will put cameras, microphones and sensors on 3,200 street lights in San Diego this year, marking the first large-scale use of “smart city” tools GE says can help monitor traffic and pinpoint crime, but raising potential privacy concerns. Why I am not going to buy a cellphone AEON.CO – Share It is mildly subversive and perhaps a little quaint when someone clings to their flip phone and refuses a smartphone.  Odds & Ends Google's Perspective API Opens Up Its Troll-Fighting AI WWW.WIRED.COM – Share Google subsidiary Jigsaw is now offering developers access to an API for its AI-based detector for abusive comments. Twitter tweaks direct messages for brands so they sound more human VENTUREBEAT.COM – Share Twitter is once again tinkering with direct messages, this time to let brands show customers that they’re communicating with a human, not an automated bot.  How Peter Thiel’s Palantir Helped the NSA Spy on the Whole World THEINTERCEPT.COM – Share   How leaders of 9 billion-dollar companies stay productive MASHABLE.COM – Share A little thought can go a long way Do you enjoy receiving this? Please share it:     Tweet     Share   Carefully curated by Andy Abramson with Revue If you were forwarded this newsletter and you like it, you can subscribe here.